Sometimes I am asked where I get my inspiration from while in the kitchen. Often, the answer is I get it outside the kitchen… :) On the way home from the office yesterday, I dropped off three colleagues at the “Whitegold Warehouse” in Cebu City, which I had never been to. I decided to take a quick look inside. It’s like a massive bodega (warehouse) with closeout items and a grocery! Not everything was low-priced, but there were some unusual finds to say the least. Amongst them, a few Chinese clay pots for about PHP100 or $2.50, roughly double the price from side streets in Hong Kong, but they were already here in Cebu. So I bought a couple thinking I would try a dish or two today…

…at the office, I unwrapped the clay pots, washed them with water, placed them on a burner and boiled some water in them to “temper” the vessels. I decided to try a quick dish with whatever was nearby so I added some onions, ginger, two heaping spoons of cooked lechon sisig that the commissary was portioning for branches, some chicken broth, hoisin sauce, a bit of soy sauce, some chopped napa cabbage and green onions. Add in some sotanghon noodles, and voila!

This tasted pretty good for a fairly haphazard approach. It was my version of crab sotanghon with no crab… :) The noodles were oh so flavorful, and the little bits of lechon sisig and vegetables just added texture and flavor. It’s important not to overcook the noodles, and to bring this to the table still bubbling (the pottery retains a lot of heat for a few minutes). Folks at the office had this for breakfast. By itself. With rice. And oddly, sandwiched in white bread!

When the first portion was gone (in minutes), most of the ingredients except the noodles remained at the bottom of the claypot, so I simply added more noodles, some hot water and a bit more seasoning and let this cook again for a slightly less intense version the second time around. So quick, easy, economical and delicious! I think this would work with leftover roast chicken/chicken broth. With shrimps and the same sauce. With crabmeat and noodles and all sorts of combinations. :)

sittin here in austria and cant get anything you´re takin pics of – even if i enjoy the pics, it´s a tough thing JUST to see the pics without the ability to get the real thing…
;(

and no philippine restaurant over here…

Aug 2, 2013 | 6:19 pm

EJ
says:

Thanks for this, MM. I will try this with tofu and just-bought napa cabbage this weekend on my long-unused claypot.

Aug 2, 2013 | 7:13 pm

Getter Dragon 1
says:

I want claypot but I’m ambivalent as to the product safety of imports. Especially when I see Prop 65 warnings above the shelves of imported cookware and news reports overseas of tainted goods and prodcuts. Roaming through local chain like 99 Ranch and even Seafood City, I wonder how the USDA and FDA is able to keep up. The amount of imported goods to inspect for one store must be daunting.

That said, I have some leftover rotisserie chicken so I’m vasilating between chicken sotanghon or chicken malungay…or maybe a hybrid, sans the claypot.

Carb on carb isn’t so unusual, the Japanese have chowmein and spaghetti bread (and the spaghetti even has hot dogs!)

Aug 3, 2013 | 3:21 am

Ed B.
says:

This would be nice for breakfast.. as in right now.. :D

Aug 3, 2013 | 8:21 am

Footloose
says:

I wonder how long they are going to last. The ones pictured in my Chinese cookbook sport some wire bracing reinforcement and just makes me wonder too how that would help. I guess you do not have to gather up the scattered shards. I beguiled myself picking up a few Made in China cheap earthenware cocottes shaped just like Staube’s and judging by how quickly they cracked, they must have been intended only as ornaments. Corning’s pyrocerams are the most durable of the non-reactive cookwares and are back in the market again unless one wants to spring for a real Staube short cocotte which is not only a joy to look at and use but also sure to outlive even pyrocerams by several generations.

Aug 3, 2013 | 10:00 am

Susan
says:

I love my clay pot but only use it to cook Japanese and Korean dishes . . .but duh to me, of course any soupy dish will do well in a clay pot. Will have to remember to use it for all those yummy Filipino dishes too.

Aug 3, 2013 | 8:44 pm

Ruth T.
says:

Did this super easy sotanghon for lunch and it complimented the cajun fried catfish that hubby got from our fav to-go place. THanks MM…you are the best!!!

Clarissa, the chinese clay pots have a glazed base inside the pot, that seems to heat up more or maybe its the thinness of the pottery that allows higher heat cooking I think in this vessel versus a palayok. But I do enjoy cooking in a palayok as well.

Footloose, the other pot I got had the wire “supports” you mention. I think these do break quickly but at PHP100 a pot, if I get 10 uses out of them each, that’s just 25 U.S. cents per use and I think that’s worth it…

Aug 5, 2013 | 4:13 pm

DhayL
says:

Speaking of your vegetarion sotanghon recipe from an old post, I made it last night for work’s potluck today, and they loved it! Thanks MM!